Kolek planning to go pro
I actually don't think our fanbase expects a lot. I think Kevin O'Neill type success would make people happy. Most MU fans would be fine with down years if they had confidence in the coach to get them back. But under Wojo, "next year" never seems to come.
But the reality is, other than the top 10 or so programs in the country, Wojo could have had the exact same results, and he would still be employed at any other program.
What golden opportunities are you referring to? Wojo has unquestionably preformed well enough every year not to get fired.Fans may not like it, but there is a space between "good enough to inspire confidence" and "bad enough to fire." Unfortunately for us sorry louts, Wojo has set up camp in that space and past evidence suggests that he ain't moving in either direction.I don't fault anyone who has seen enough of Wojo and has concluded that he will never get us to the next level. I'm closer to he won't get it done then he will at the moment. But the reality is, other than the top 10 or so programs in the country, Wojo could have had the exact same results, and he would still be employed at any other program.And again, while I understand why people are pessimistic about the team moving forward...It was an 8 point loss in the third game of the season to a good (not great) high-major team. We have seen Wojo coached teams take much worse early season losses and then turn around to make the dance anyway. Let's not throw the season on the meat wagon quite yet.
This is just false. How many other P6 schools have a coach who’s been in his job as long as Wojo has without an NCAA win?
Here are a list of coaches who have been at their programs for about the same time with similar, or worse results:Andy Enfeld at USCWayne Tinkle at Oregon StateRichard Pitino at MinnesotaFran McCaffrey at IowaChris Collins at NorthwesternBrad Brownell at ClemsonJim Christian at BCEd Cooley at PC
And I’d guess that none of the schools above spend a fraction of what Marquette does on hoops
In some of the cases sure. But they spend enough. Remember that I think the figures about what Marquette spends compared to others is not an apple to apple comparison.By the way, I am not providing this list as some defense of Wojo. I see a ton of coaching mediocrity on this list, and absolutely zero people I would want to replace Wojo.
We can debate about the others, but there has been at least one shimmering golden opportunity - after the Murray State loss. Given everything I saw that season, and then the actual tournament game itself, I think it would've made sense to press release it before his plane landed back in Milwaukee. He went and shopped his name around immediately after this anyway, and we caved and granted an extension instead. What a comedy of errors by Scholl and the admin.Now for that exact reason, everyone is telling me to shut up and enjoy our Marquette basketball because this is what we got and we ain't paying a buy-out during COVID. There shouldn't even be a buy-out to pay. We should've let the clock expire or told Wojo he gets his extension when we get one of the following (Sweet Sixteen, BET title, Big East Regular season title, top 3 NCAAT seed). If our coach wants to give up on recruiting because he doesn't have a perpetual four-year contract despite being paid millions for painfully underwhelming results or wants to shop himself out to Wake Forest and leak it publicly for that same reason, maybe he's just not a coach you want to have.And the kicker is all of the above can stand independently before you even bring up Hausershima.
TAMUI do know, Newsie is right on you knowing ball.
Curious .. what do people think will be Wojo's next job?I mean, there is zero chance he will retire at MU in 30 years. So it's just a matter of time, whether that be 1-3-5-10 years, something. It's not if, it's when.Since we haven't seen any evidence to the contrary, MU's program will continue to under-achieve as a middling-BE team. It's hard to fathom any top 50 team hiring Wojo for head coaching duties with that record.At the moment .. I think Wojo's destiny is to go back to being an assistant somewhere. Great, great.
Thank you for providing this list. Lots of coaching mediocrity, and all of them mediocre (at best) bball programs. Certainly not “any other program in the country outside the top 10” as some have suggested.
It wasn't that the loss happened, it was how inept and unprepared the team looked that has a lot of people rankled.
How does that list disprove my statement?Find me a coach from a similar or worse program to Marquette who was either:A. Fired after missing the postseason in year 1B. Fired after missing the postseason in year 1 and 2 (I can think of one example personally)C. Fired after making the NCAA tournament after two years of missing the postseasonD. Fired after making the NIT immediately after making the NCAA tournament the year before who's projected to have his best team yet the following yearE. Fired after making the NCAA tournament as a high seed after making the NIT the year before and the NCAA the year before thatF. Fired after making NCAA tournament for a second year in a rowAll without significant off the court issues. Personally, I can only think of an example for B.There have been coaches who have performed better than Wojo who have been fired. That is 100% true. The thing you are missing is that those coaches actually had a bad season where the school could justify firing them. Wojo has always done just enough to not got fired. Please don't mistake that for an endorsement. That's about the definition of "damning with faint praise."
That's fine but I think those people are only looking at one side of the ball. Defense was very good and we dominated the glass. Offense was a sh*tshow. My observation in the past has been that it is easier for teams to get better on offense as the season goes on than it is for teams to get better on defense. We'll see if that holds true for us.The rest of your post I agreed with.
I’m not the one who said they should’ve fired Wojo after year 5, however...Mike Anderson at Arkansas: 8 seed in 2017 (with an NCAA win), 7 seed in 2018, NIT in 2019, fired. If Wojo achieved that in a three year stretch at MU, you’d be singing holies and hosannas between slurps. Or at the very least, you’d be posting similar things on Arkansas Scoop.
Mike Anderson was not projected to have his best team in 2020. He was projected to miss the postseason. Key difference. It was also in his 8th year at Arkansas and 17th year as a head coach. I suspect that in a non-pandemic year, Wojo would get the heave ho if he made the NIT this season. So no, I wouldn't be posting similar things on Arkansas Scoop.